Gourds and small things

An array of executive cars. A peaceful place, ironically, in the heart of the city. An exquisite looking stately mansion. A royal hall packed with the elite. The setting was classic. Classical, in fact. Er...strains of hindustani.

Perfect. For the narrators from Little Theatre to do excerpts from Sashi Deshpande's `Small Remedies'. Sundar Mahal on Padmavathi Road, Jeypore Colony, was a busy place on Saturday when book-lovers promptly and quickly slipped into their chairs, well before the scheduled start of the session.

A delay was the last thing one would expect for a 100 minute reading session beginning at seven. The programme organised by Prakriti Foundation and Amethyst, was the perfect atmosphere to unwind at the end of the day, listening to good music and literature. ``Small Remedies'', written by Sashi Deshpande is the story of Madhu, ``a lonely daughter, a sensitive and capable woman, a vulnerable wife and mother, who faced with the vacuum caused by the death of Adit, her only son, sets out on a long and lonely journey in her attempt to come to terms with her loss''.

The soulful tale, thus was perfect reading material for Little Theatre, Hyderabad, to capitalise on, especially with the accompaniments, Hindustani style, with vocals (Alka Rao, Kalpana Palnitkar and Vinay Patankar), Harmonium (Retd. Capt. M. V. Naniwadekar), Tabla (Sunil Mudgalkar) and Tanpura (Sucheta Patankar).

The narrators included Retd. Air Vice Marshal Cecil Parker, Sachi Madhavan, Vijay Marur, Jayashree Uppal, Leela Narayen, Ranjan Ranganathan and Sarala Mahidara. The text for the evening, edited by Shankar Melkote was put to stage by Pramila Naniwadekar (Concept and Direction) and Retd. Brigadier Shashikant Deshpande. Yes, the ``informal association'', as Shankar Melkote, Founder of Hyderabad's Little Theatre says, consists of officers of armed forces, apart from business executives, teachers and other professionals.

The event, organised as a part of Amethyst's anniversary celebration, was one with an eye for detail. For example, arrangements were made to ensure that no person leaving Sundar Mahal during the programme, revved up the acceleration, lest it intrudes into the soulful session.

With a rare cell-phone beeping here and there, the show provided for a spirited evening.

If you haven't got a copy of the book yet, you could get it from Amethyst apart from the leading book stores. Events just happen at this boutique that houses some exquisite jewellery, furniture, crafts, carpets, textiles, flowers and plants.

So the action isn't over completely yet at Sundar Mahal. For on till the end of the month is the `Art of the Gourds' exhibition.

Check out the innovative designs (See pics.) of the gourds in a totally new avatar. Dried skins, that come alive after death. You sure will be amazed at the sight. This one show of skin that would raise no eye-brows at all. For the gluttons and the gourmets, this is going to be surprise that would leave mouths wide open.

The gourds must be crazy, they must be thinking, after one visit to the exhibition! Crazy? Er..crazily artistic, if we could add.

By Sudhish Kamath

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